“I thought we had to pick our poison,” Johnson said. “We lost Forte and he hurt us, but we did the best job we could possibly do in terms of guarding Marcus.”

Oklahoma State (18-10, 6-9) had another scoring threat in freshman wing Leyton Hammonds, a Richland alumnus and last year’s Star-Telegram Player of the Year.

Hammonds shot went 5 for 7 from the field, including 3 for 5 from 3-point range, for a career-high 13 points.

TCU managed to narrow the gap to six points with 9 minutes remaining in the game, but the Cowboys’ dagger came a few minutes later when Smart made a steal and dished to Forte, who hit a 3-pointer while falling into the bench. Forte then stole the inbounds pass and found Smart for another 3.

“We’ve experienced a lot of plays like that, a lot of special plays,” Forte said. “That’s one of the more unique plays that we’ve had together in the short span since we’ve been here. We don’t have much time left playing together [because of Smart’s likely entry into the NBA], so you kind of savor every moment.”

TCU junior guard Kyan Anderson led the Horned Frogs in scoring with 15 points, and freshman center Karviar Shepherd had his fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

“I can’t say enough about what Kyan has done in terms of still trying to play through fatigue and keep everybody involved,” Johnson said.

For TCU, Monday is a memory quickly erased as the Horned Frogs try to find a brief reprieve before heading to West Virginia on Saturday in search of their first Big 12 victory.

“The kids need rest and we need to regroup and find a way to play better and find a way to try to get a win,” Johnson said.